The portrayal of women in traditional fairy tales is "fairly appalling" by modern standards, but reflects the time they were written down, rather than their origins, author Juliet Marillier told a writing workshop at Otago Girls' High School yesterday.
Now based in Perth, Marillier has penned 13 historical fantasy novels, and another two are to be published this year. She is attending the school's 50th reunion of 3S (1962), which starts tomorrow.
The workshop, attended by pupils interested in creative writing, focused on fairy tales, and how their elements were present in much adult writing.
Marillier said fairy tales were traditionally "codes for living", morality and life tales, passed orally from generation to generation. They changed with each telling, reflecting the fears, prejudices, and ambitions of the teller.
In earlier times, the female characters could be quite powerful.
Then in the early modern age they were written down, often by young French women, and became steeped in the values of that time. Women became passive, silent, and obedient creatures.
Often stories had unpleasant coded violence against women, although at least the male villain tended to get his "comeuppance" to right the balance.
Modern-day writing tended to use the messages, stories, and themes derived from fairy tales in a more positive way, she said.
She urged the girls to read widely, and said reading from a young age had been key to her success.
While she was a fantasy writer, she tended not to read fantasy, apart from a couple of favourite authors.
Her main reading interest was non-fiction, literary fiction, and general fiction.
Her writing had seen her become celebrated in "funny little parts of the world", most notably Portugal, where she had a strong fan base.
She was treated as a celebrity when she visited Portugal, something which was generally not good for a writer's craft, she believed.
